More than you ever wanted to know about Alabama native Joe Watts
These flowers came from bulbs I dug around Christmas 2006 in Octagon. We planted them before the end of 2006, they came up and a few bloomed last year. It looks like more will be blooming this year.
Last night, at 5:58, the space shuttle passed over Birmingham. It was docked with the space station, so made for a larger speck in the sky. Really interesting to watch. Not too amazing to see in my photos, but here it is. The space shuttle is the tiny speck near the really bright moon.
Went to Gadsden to a meeting of the Lookout Mountain Parkway Association today. A few photos of the falls should be up tomorrow.
Ann and I have been going through our old video tapes and we’ve both been getting a better handle on how to edit and present video on the web. We’ve found some pretty interesting footage of Octagon Christmas in 2002 and what looks like a great talk with Mama in 2003 about Uncle CoodiSaw (*sp). We’ll be posting the videos later this week.
Off to Gadsden tomorrow to meet with the Lookout Mountain Parkway folks to discuss their byway. The meeting was mentioned in the Gadsden Times. No telling how many people will show up. The more, the merrier.
I’m really excited this morning as I can look outside and see the fruits of my labor beginning to bloom. The jonquils and hyacinths are starting to bloom. I planted the jonquils shortly after Christmas 2006 and got a few blooms last year. This year, there are many more getting ready to bloom, but this is the first. The hyacinths were planted this Christmas and I’m pretty sure that all their blooming energy was stored from last year at Mama’s house.
All the bulbs that I’ve planted in our front, back and side yards (well over 600) have come from Octagon–I really feel a little closer to home and to Mama when I see them. I’ve been watching them closely every day since they poked their heads through the mulch and have been hoping that they would bloom this year.
If you haven’t guessed, I’m in a bit of a mood about family and sticking together. Here’s what I think of as the perfect example of one of the reasons family means so much to me. My sister, Cynthia, just sent me (and all the siblings) a photo from her yard:
I looked out my window this morning and saw something that made me smile! I thought you all might like to smile too! Yep, these are bulbs that came from Octagon about 18 years ago! It’s the only one I see right now, but I’m sure there are more to come!
These flowers come from the same bulb stock that the many, many bulbs I’ve planted come from. Over the last 3 years, I’ve planted well over 500 of these bulbs (along with spider lilies, and irises and a few day lilies). What a warm feeling to know that a little bit of Octagon’s post oak mud has found the way to Birmingham to brighten my day. None of my bulbs are blooming yet, but hundreds are poking their little heads up out of the dirt. It is now only a matter of time.
And so nice to see that they are blooming and bringing all of our thoughts to home and family.
I love old photos. I love old family photos, particularly. This is a photo from World War II of my Uncle Bud (my mother’s brother who died of lung cancer when I was very young). When I was younger, I didn’t really understand the importance of family. It seemed that friends were much more valuable. You could choose your friends, so, for the most part, they were most like you.
What I failed to understand was that friends come and go, but family is forever–or at least it should be. I put this photo of Uncle Bud here for a reason. His son, Nollie, has really proven that family is forever. When I was growing up, I hardly knew Nollie. Then, I went off to college and really lost touch with everyone in Marengo County other than my parents. In recent years, I’ve made some inroads back into the community. I probably know more people now than I did growing up.
I’m involved with www.alabamasfrontporches.com, the Ala-Tom RC&D, Clarke County Development Foundation and several other projects. I’m in the Black Belt at least once every couple of months working on something. And I always run into people who knew me when I was young–if they don’t know me, they certainly know some of my family. Mama would be pleased that I was getting back, at least a little, to my rural roots.
But business relationships aside, I have a stronger bond to family than I ever have before. I just can’t imagine going through life without a strong connection to my siblings. Having a place to go, to visit, to have Christmas and birthdays and just good times is key to this. Going home to Octagon has allowed me to connect to Nollie, It has given me a place to connect to my nieces and nephews and brother-in-laws. This tight bond would never exist without Octagon, the place that lets us all get together and be, well, a family.